( a delightful guest post by Toadorama)
I’ve loved frogs and toads since I can remember. I’ve always had them as pets.
I firmly believe if you find a healthy, adult toad in the wild. It should stay there. Wild-caught adults do not thrive when captured.
With my 4 toads now, they were all babies no bigger than a quarter, in a situation where they would have been killed. A lot of babies do not make it to adulthood.
Approximately 8-9 years ago, I rescued Agatha. She was a tiny California/Western toad. Very small. There were predators all around and she wouldn’t have lasted another week where she was. Frances, Gustavo, and Santiago followed.
In my opinion, toads make incredibly good pets. They are not high maintenance and they are very easy to care for.
I keep my toads separated from each other. They each have their own home. I
rescued them at different times and it’s not a good idea to put them together.
They will usually be found alone in the wild, and when you put them together, there is a lot of fighting and stress. All the toads in my past, as a child, did not live very long when I put them together.
TOAD CARE
This is how I care for my toads!
HOME
Each toad should have a minimum 10-gallon tank or similar enclosure.
I try to mimic the natural habitat where they were found. You will need a good substrate to start with. I prefer Reptisoil, which is peat moss, carbon, sand and soil. Do not use any kind of bagged soil from garden shops unless it is organic without any chemicals added to it. Always make sure there is enough substrate so they can bury themselves if they want.
They will also need a good water dish. You want a water dish that isn’t too deep. One they can get in and out of easily.
Hide and fake plants are nice as well.
Spring water is an absolute must. Toads drink through their skin. Tap water or distilled water is a big NO.
Repti-Safe is a good de-chlorinator for tap water and a more economical choice. I personally use Crystal Geyser Spring water.
Expect your toad to soak themselves every day. They dirty their water dish very fast. I change mine every other day.
HANDLING
Toads do not like to be handled. It doesn’t matter that you raised them from babies. They are not afraid of me at all, but they do not like to be handled! The only time I handle my toads is when I am moving them, one at a time, to their feeding box or if I am refreshing their home. I always use gloves when I handle them. This is because they will absorb everything from your skin. Soaps or lotions will be absorbed in their skin.
FEEDING
I feed my toads, on the average, twice a week. Babies, however, need to be fed small amounts daily.
I feed each toad in a small travel terrarium that is just used for feeding. I do this because I know exactly how much is eaten and there is no chance of them accidentally swallowing substrate.
Crickets, night crawlers, dubia roaches are excellent food. Wax worms are a good treat.
In my opinion, mealworms are not a safe/good nutritional choice. Since toads do not chew their food, mealworms have been known to burrow through an animal and unless you’re willing to crush the mealworm’s heads before feeding them to your toad, I wouldn’t risk it.
Do not ever feed your toad anything from your backyard! This is how they catch parasites.
VITAMINS
Toads require Calcium, Vitamin D and Vitamin A. These supplements are very
essential to their health and well-being. Without the proper vitamins, they can get “Short Tongue Syndrome” (hypovitaminosis) where they have a very hard time catching their food. They can also get MBD (metabolic bone disease).
I use an all-in-one supplement. Repashy Calcium Plus. It has calcium, Vitamin D and Vitamin A in it. I add a few shakes to my bag of crickets and that’s it!
That’s really all there is to taking care of them! In the winter, when it gets really chilly, I might put a heating pad on the outside of their home for 30 minutes at a time but they don’t really need a specific temperature to thrive.
MY TOADS
AGATHA: She’s my oldest toad and very tame.
FRANCES: She’s my largest toad. She loves messing up her water dish!
GUSTAVO: He is the only male I have. He was always shy but is starting to get more relaxed. He chirps loud when you touch his back!
Sidenote: Male toads will chirp! Female toads do not make any noise.
SANTIAGO: We thought she was a “he” and the name kind of stuck! She is a little clown! Always trying to get attention. She loves to look at herself in the mirror on my closet door! She’s also known as Scalawag and Scooter.
I also have a large African Bullfrog with teeth who’s almost a pound! Her name is Hecky!
Follow the toads and Hecky on Instagram at Toadorama
